


i will be by your side

by towokuwusatsuwu



Series: Femslash February 2018: Tokusatsu Edition [5]
Category: Kamen Rider W (Double)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 20:30:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13621128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: Akiko is an excellent bodyguard to her girlfriend and rising star, Wakana. She would do anything for her, including being the rock she needs after an interview gets too personal yet again.





	i will be by your side

No one backstage knows better than to avoid Sonozaki Wakana after such a draining interview; people scamper up to offer her things and look bewildered when she shoves past them, snapping at them to give her personal space before she forces them out of hers.

The sight is hardly uncommon; Wakana had a difficult childhood and answering questions about it even to hosts who mean well only serves to upset her and take her back to places she would never think about, not in her wildest dreams. Narumi Akiko knows this better than most.

She already has Wakana’s jacket in hand and helps her shrug it onto her shoulders, smoothing the fabric across her skin and offering her what she hopes is a helpful smile as she escorts her from the backstage area to where her car waits, scanning every nook and cranny for danger.

Akiko has been at this long enough to know the handful of people who refuse to leave Wakana alone so she knows who to keep an eye out for in particular, but there are always new threats that can show up. She never lets her guard down, not where Wakana is concerned. A good bodyguard would never; her father had been very strict in teaching her that when she told him she was bound and determined to follow in his footsteps. Besides, she would never let anyone hurt Wakana anyway. She had grown too close to her in the last few years.

Wakana flashes Akiko a smile as she climbs into the car after her. “Thank you. I knew I could count on you to get me out of there. Let’s go for something to eat now. Driver!”

Her driver doesn’t even need to ask where she wants to go; Hidari Shotaro had learned quickly that there was only one place Wakana wanted to spend her time after a long and pressing interview that brought up her childhood. He was one of the few people Akiko trusted to be in such regular contact with Wakana, and that had more to do with the fact he was dating her brother than anything else. The two of them had survived a lot of trauma to get where they were today, and Akiko knows Shotaro appreciates just how much they went through and how strong they are as a result of it, so she never has to worry about keeping him in line.

“You did well, even with all of that,” Akiko tells her, patting Wakana on the hand, but lightly.

Wakana’s smile is tight at the corners but true in her eyes. “Thank you. I just wish they would ask different questions from time to time. It can be a lot to field them too often.”

“I can understand that.” Akiko had a fairly normal childhood— as normal as one could be when your father was in constant danger, at least. “But that’s over. You can relax now.”

Wakana nods, threading her fingers through her hair and exhaling slowly. “I know you’re right. I just wish it didn’t have to be this way, you know? But it’s better than having succumbed to that place and everything that would have happened if I did. In a way, I’m grateful each time, too.”

Shotaro clears his throat from the front seat. “Nothing wrong with that either, Sonozaki-san.”

Wakana smiles, but it’s small and sad and Akiko thinks it must be difficult to have so many people know what she went through. “Thank you. Now, food. It’s on me this time.”

Shotaro exchanges a look with Akiko through the rearview mirror, raising an eyebrow at her, but she just gives him a quick nod. No use questioning Wakana’s actions when she’s in a good mood.

She sneaks a hand between her and Wakana, taking Wakana’s hand in hers. “Are you okay?”

The professional tone is dropped in favor of something softer and more intimate and Wakana lets her head fall back against the seat behind her, squeezing her eyes shut. A tear still steals free and drips down her cheek, and Akiko wipes it away without a second thought.

It’s hard on Wakana to talk about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her parents, of a father who was too hard on her and a mother who was never there but tried to manipulate Wakana to her liking when it best suited her. It’s hard to watch her have to talk about it in front of people who think they should be privy to her story even though some things are best not spoken of.

Akiko wishes she could take Wakana away from it all, sometimes. Even for just a weekend spent in the country where no cameras can find them, where there will be no questions.

It’s hard being her bodyguard but knowing there isn’t anything she can do to guard Wakana’s heart.

“I’m okay. It’s just hard, sometimes, but I know I’m away from all of it now and they can’t get to me anymore. Not after I went public with things.” Wakana sits up straighter, blots the tears on her skin, and puts on a radiant smile. “Besides, it isn’t like you’d let them, right?”

That smile is enough to steal the breath right out of Akiko’s lungs. “Right.” She takes both of Wakana’s hands in hers and squeezes them tightly. “No one gets to you. I won’t let them.”

The restaurant Wakana likes to decompress in is actually small and quiet and tucked away from the rest of the city with an entrance in an alley so it’s hard to see who comes and goes. They get inside without issue and the owner escorts them to the private room Wakana almost always utilizes after a difficult interview; Akiko hadn’t paid any attention to Shotaro but he likely had called ahead to make sure the room was open and free for them to use.

Wakana takes a seat at the table and Akiko sits with her; Shotaro crashes on the couch, pulling his hat low over his eyes, giving them some measure of privacy. He’s a good man, in that.

Wakana props her chin on the palm of her hand, and she’s so perfectly put together it’s impossible to tell at all she almost lost her self-control in the car. If they had gone home, she might have. Akiko doesn’t want to see that. As much as she wants Wakana not to hold her feelings inside, it always cuts away at her to see Wakana upset over her family again.

It doesn’t always feel real sometimes. Akiko has a whole host of photographs on her cell phone of the two of them together, or the four of them out and about— her and Shotaro, Wakana and Philip, and it’s easy to tell the tabloids that she and Shotaro are only doing their jobs in accompanying the two youngest Sonozakis out on their family outings together. No one puts the pieces together; if anything, they think about Shotaro and Wakana instead.

The thought is laughable. Akiko and Shotaro had more or less grown up together, and Akiko had watched Shotaro’s interest in women quickly flicker out like a dying candle in light of chasing after boys with pretty faces. Sokichi had just shrugged it off when Akiko asked him about it once;  _ it’s about time he started being honest with himself about how he feels. _

Akiko had been the opposite. There had been no interest in boys to speak of. As a child, she had dreamed of being the kind of badass bodyguard that protected women from all sorts of freaks and perverts, but as she got older she realized there was a different edge to that. Again, Sokichi had just shrugged his shoulders. He knew both of them all too well, after all.

And then there had been Wakana. Akiko had long since honed her hand-to-hand combat skills and a variety of other talents that made her excellent at her job. She already had a resume with plenty of important names on it when she had passed it to Wakana’s secretary. There had been no interview; she had simply received a call and was told to come take Wakan to an awards show.

“You’re looking at me weird,” Wakana tells her, and Akiko blinks, not even aware that she had wandered off mentally while staring at her client and her girlfriend. “Something on my face? What are you thinking about, anyway? I can hear the gears in your head turning.”

“Just thinking that I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the entire world,” Akiko says, and Wakana blushes several shades before she drops her head, hiding behind her hands.

It feels like a fairy tale and in some ways, it definitely is one. Akiko is living a life she would have only dreamed of when she started this job. Wakana had quickly shot up in success, her modeling and her music and her radio show gathering her thousands upon thousands of fans in a short period of time. Akiko had been a fan from the very beginning; she had listened to Wakana’s radio show while getting ready for work in the mornings. And now she’s  _ dating _ her.

Wakana orders for them; she’s learned what both Akiko and Shotaro like, and her eyes shine over her water glass as she takes a sip. “Did I get it right? You can tell me I got it right.”

“You always do,” Shotaro says from the couch, sitting up just long enough to take a drink, and when both girls shoot him a look, he throws his hands up in the air. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”

Wakana likes her carbohydrates and her sugar and Akiko only smiles when Wakana digs into her food, a few delighted moans slipping in as she eats. It’s enough to make Akiko slightly uncomfortable and she bites down on her lower lip to hold back a teasing smile, thinking that Wakana will probably want to go home after this, and then Akiko can take care of her further. She can do more for Wakana than good food can, after all, and from the way Wakana smiles at her around her food, she might be thinking the same thing Akiko is.

“We got anywhere else to go today?” Shotaro asks around a mouthful of ramen and Akiko is surprised she can actually make out the words clearly enough to understand them. When Wakana shakes her head, Shotaro leans back against the couch with a peaceful expression on his face. “Then once I take you home, can I take off and go see Philip?”

“You can. Just remember that if you do anything to hurt my little brother, I’m going to make you pay for it.” Wakana points her chopsticks at him threateningly, and Shotaro winks at her even though Akiko can see his complexion pale just slightly at the thought.

On the ride home, Wakana gives up any semblance of being professional and scoots fully against Akiko’s side, using her shoulder for a pillow and clinging to her hand as tightly as she can. Shotaro hums along to the radio as he drives and Akiko thinks she could almost imagine this is just another slice of the domestic bliss the two of them have together even though she knows very well they have to keep this quiet when it comes to Wakana’s job. After all, she can’t afford to handle a real dating scandal right now.

“Carry me inside,” she says when Shotaro pulls up to her large and expensive house. “I’m tired.”

“Of course.” Akiko picks Wakana off of the seat of the car, adjusting her hands so she can support Wakana’s weight comfortably. “Shotaro! Come get the front door before you leave.”

Akiko is skilled at everything she does and she manages to navigate the stairs with Wakana held comfortably in her arms. She sets her on the edge of her bed, all lacy bed curtains and plush pillows, and lets out a soft squeak when Wakana pulls her forward into a kiss. The bed is high enough she wraps her legs around Akiko’s waist, not letting her go anywhere, before pulling her up onto the bed and on top of her. Not that Akiko is complaining. If this is how Wakana wants to finish decompressing, well, Akiko isn’t one to argue with her.

She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want this, anyway.


End file.
